Wives

By Jaclyn Backhaus

In an era where marginalized voices are shaping mainstream consciousness like never before, Wives by Jaclyn Backhaus offers an ardent exploration of the power and resilience at the heart of women's stories.

The laugh-out-loud comedy, featuring a South Asian and South Asian American cast, will have its Southern California premiere at EWP in March 2026. The play finds an immediate resonance after the recent national election, where the first South Asian American woman presidential candidate and the first South Asian American second lady found themselves in the spotlight of America’s two major political parties.

Wives takes the audience on a spellbinding journey from 16th-century France to 1920s India and 1960s Idaho, offering potent perspectives on the lives of history’s influential men through the eyes of their equally formidable spouses. This work challenges the construction of historical narratives, framing them not as a series of events dominated by men, but as a tapestry woven by many hands.